Why Paris?

This week I have gotten very interested in WHY the students in my program have chosen to study abroad in Paris. I am taking an informal poll (by which I mean casually asking a handful of my friends... not very scientific) and the most common responses are as follows. (1) interest in the history of France, with a desire to visit museums, churches, etc.; (2) allure and draw of French culture and sophistication; (3) prefer to study in a city with a lot of activity and things to do, trying to get away from small-town America; (4) learned French in high school.

I also asked my friends why they wanted to study abroad in the first place. The responses to this question naturally overlap with the responses to the first question, but here they are. (1) seeking personal challenge and growth; (2) escape from life at home; (3) experience life somewhere else, but not necessarily wanting to ESCAPE, more just generally wanting to see other places; (4) desire to learn another language; (5) UC Berkeley increased tuition 33% and studying abroad became relatively more cost-effective (that last one was mine).

So why did *I* want to study in Paris (aside from the tuition increase at Cal)? Simply enough, I fell in love with the city once upon a time. I can even tell you how it happened, one early morning almost six years ago.

I was visiting Paris with my sister and some other students from my high school. My first few days were a blur, with sight-seeing every day, a language that was at the time incomprehensible for me, and jet lag weighing me down. The third morning in Paris, I broke the strict rules set down by our teacher and went jogging alone.

I left our Best Western Motel in Montmartre, ran up the hill past a cemetery and a wisteria garden, and came in sight of Sacre Coeur.

I jogged around to the front of the church and came to a sudden halt. The sun was rising over the city of Paris. As all the celebrated monuments lit up in front of me (the Eiffel Tower, the gold dome of the Hotel des Invalides, Notre Dame), I fell in love.

I knew that someday I had to come back. No other place had ever affected me so strongly, and it is quite possible no place ever will.

I had fallen in love for the first time; something one never forgets.